| Microsoft Year 2000 Readiness Disclosure
& Resource Center |
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| Developing Year 2000 Compliant
Applications in Microsoft Visual Basic |
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10. Conclusion
Use the
following points as your basic rules for handling dates in your
Visual Basic programs:
- Always use the Date data type for holding and manipulating
dates.
- If you have to assign dates that lack century information,
always use a known and documented algorithm for your
interpretation or expansion of them.
- Be aware of all of the leap year rules in any routines you
write that manipulate dates.
- Never manipulate dates as strings.
- Wherever possible use Visual BasicÆs built-in date
manipulation capabilities, which are many and varied.
- Assume nothing.
Many
developers are rather indifferent about Visual Basic year 2000
compliance, assuming that since the Date data type can store dates
up to 9999, the language is fully compliant and they have nothing to
worry about. Given that Visual Basic is one of the worldÆs most
popular programming languages, this attitude is worrisome, to say
the least. Not only must the language and environment be compliant,
so must the programmers. Developer tools are like a loaded gun:
TheyÆre only safe in the right hands. When used sensibly, it is easy
to create fully compliant applications; unfortunately, writing
noncompliant ones is even easier without education.
For More Information
For the
latest information on Microsoft and the Year 2000, check out the
Microsoft World Wide Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/year2000.
⌐ 1999 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
The information contained in this document represents
the current view of Microsoft Corporation on the issues discussed as
of the date of publication. Because Microsoft must respond to
changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a
commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee
the accuracy of any information presented after the date of
publication.
This White Paper is for informational purposes only.
MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS
DOCUMENT.
Microsoft, ActiveX, Visual Basic, Windows, and
Windows NT are either registered trademarks or trademarks of
Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other
countries.
Other product or company names mentioned herein may be
the trademarks of their respective owners.
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